Airtronic USA

AirTronic USA, Inc.

AirTronic USA, Inc., is an engineering design and manufacturing company, was founded in 1990 and incorporated in 1993. Its first initiative was an investigation of fully non-magnetic electronic headsets that could be used within Functional Echo-Planner Magnetic Resonance systems (FMRI).^[1]

History

In the course of early initiatives AirTronic USA developed relationships with medical and educational institutions and was a design consultant and prototype manufacturing facility to several Fortune 1000 firms.

In the late 1990s, AirTronic USA undertook a number of R&D and manufacturing projects for the U.S. Army, and today it collaborates extensively with US Special Operations community and works exclusively for the Department of Defense.

Products

In 2003, AirTronic USA turned its attention sharply towards Department of Defense Initiatives. In 2004, it won an award to manufacture 9mm magazines using a fifteen-stage progressive die. It later developed a new design for a one-piece 30-round steel magazine, a product it also patented. AirTronic owns the tooling for both of these cartridge magazines.

AirTronic USA became a specialist in the 40mm small arms weapons space in 2006 when it won all three 40mm grenade launcher contracts – for the M203, the M203A1, and the M203A2 (TACOM Awards page: W52H0906D0200, W52H0906D0224, W52H0907D0173). AirTronic also developed a proprietary design for an M203 that can attach to an AK assault rifle.^[2]

It holds the current five-year contract on the M203/M203A2 40mm Grenade Launchers (W52H0910D0173), and over the past six years AirTronic has produced over 50,000 units. There are more AirTronic M203s on battlefields around the world than any other brand. In 2012, AirTronic developed a proprietary Picatinny mounting bracket and extended receiver M203 40mm Grenade Launcher (M203EXPIC) which has a patent pending on it (Patent Office Application: 61601840, Patent Office Receipt: 12135406). The extended receiver permits operators to use longer rounds, including the Star Parachute round. An M203 made to the US Government Technical Data Package can fire these rounds, but it does not always cleanly eject the case.

With the guidance of the Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate at Quantico and working with two consortium partners, Metal Storm Australia and the Department of Science and Technology of the Australian Ministry of Defence, AirTronic USA is working to integrate a cost efficient managed lethality capability into the M203 40mm grenade launcher system. The consortium has reached TRL 7 and has demonstrated the system at the 2011 North American Technology Demonstration in Ottawa and at Camp Roberts in Paso Robles.^[3] By managing the kinetic energy the system can deliver managed nonlethal force to a target 15, 50, and 120 meters using the same round. Films of this weapon in action and a fuller explanation can be viewed at .

At the request of ARDEC AirTronic USA, Inc. recently developed a new version of the RPG-7 rocket launcher whose tube is machined not built from a casting and meets the USG standard of “safe, suitable, and effective.”.^[4] This is a ubiquitous weapon in conflict zones from the Pacific to Africa, and TACOM named AirTronic sole source for this weapon^[5] AirTronic has a patent pending on improvements made to the design of the RPG-7 (Patent Application: 61607751,Patent Office Confirmation: 5264).

Military users are always looking for lighter weight weapons, and AirTronic together with ATK teamed to reduce the weight of the RPG-7 rocket launcher. A launcher made from 4140/4150 steel weighs approximately 14  lbs. By overwrapping a steel liner with a carbon composite wrap the weight of the weapon has been reduced by approximately ten pounds to 7.77 lbs.^[6] The teaming agreement with ATK has been terminated, but AirTronic has continued working on the initiative and expects to have weapons ready for shoulder-firing by the first quarter of 2015 with assistance from scientists at Benet Labs and Battelle. The GS-777 shares the same trigger group as the RPG-7, fires all standard RPG-7 rockets, and is guaranteed for 250 shots.

Small arms has always been the focus at AirTronic. Over the past half decade, AirTronic has supplied nearly a thousand M203 40mm Grenade Launchers to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and in May 2012, shipped them fully automatic M4A1 assault carbines (TACOM Awards Page: W56HZV11C0437). The Philippines Armed Forces have chosen to request M203s with extended receivers in current requirements documents to permit them to use the M203 in low light situations and to fire many of the new longer rounds. Their requirements documents also specify the AirTronic RPG-7 rocket launcher because a machined tube meets the US Government standard of “safe, suitable, and effective.” Thirty-two other countries manufacture RPG-7 rocket launchers, but only the AirTronic RPG-7 has a machined tube, every one of which is either magnetic particle inspected or dye penetrant inspected for voids.^[7]

AirTronic RPG-7 USA

In which the Soviet Union designed in 1961.

Features

• Mil-Std-1913 Quad Rail System for mounting combat opics (optical sights), flip-up BUIS (Back Up Iron Sights), aiming lasers/illuminators, tactical white lights, and vertical foregrips
• AR-15 Carbine-type Vertical Foregrip
• AR-15/M16 Pistol Grip
• M4/M4A1 Carbine Collapsible/Telescoping Buttstock

Finances

On March 13, 2012, AirTronic was placed into involuntary bankruptcy by five of its unsecured creditors: AFCO Products, Total Solutions Central, Fox Machine & Tool, Triple Edge Manufacturing, and Concise National Components. On May 16, 2012, AirTronic converted the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case to a Chapter 11 reorganization. On April 28, 2014 AirTronic exited the Chapter 11 bankruptcy after receiving a significant capital investment from two Texas investors.

Facility

AirTronic USA's high security place of performance is located at 116 North Lively Boulevard in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, the country's largest industrial park, approximately ninety miles from Rock Island Arsenal and just northwest of Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Its engineering and executive offices are located at 1860 Jarvis Avenue in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, approximately three quarters of a mile from the Lively Boulevard location.

AirTronic USA, Inc. also leases 65 acres (260,000 m²) approximately a half mile from the main facility for weapons performance testing.

Weapon usage

In 2012, AirTronic announced they were ready to take orders for their RPG-7. At the 2013 Great Military Parade of Peru, Peruvian Army Special Forces were seen with an AirTronic RPG-7 with an EOTech Holographic sight.^[9]

In January 2014, the Philippine Army ordered 400 AirTronic RPG-7s to replace their obsolete M18 and M67 recoilless rifles, with deliveries completed by the end of the year.^[10]

U.S. Army testers evaluated the AirTronic RPG-7 in early 2015. Interest in the system came from years of fighting enemies using the Soviet-designed weapon. Differences include the tube is made from 4140/4150 ordnance grade barrel steel, several sections of rail for attaching optics, and an M4 carbine-style pistol grip and stock, weighing about 14 lb (6.4 kg) unloaded. The weapon is a program of record in U.S. Special Operations Command. Company-produced rounds have demonstrated good accuracy out to 900-1,200 meters. It is unknown if the Army will adopt an RPG-style weapon, but the results of the live-fire assessment will be available to Army officials who write future lethality requirements.^[11]

References

External links

• AirTronic USA